By Stan Matthews
County Communications Program Manager
San Juan County Assessor Charles Zalmanek reports that the total assessed value of taxable property in San Juan County increased 13.1% between 2007 and 2008 to approximately $7.976 billion. That is identical to the increase during 2006 and lower than the jump in 2005 when the total taxable property value increased by 17%.
The increase in total value does not translate directly into higher taxes however because the County can only increase revenue collected from existing property by 1% per year without voter approval.
Assessor Zalmanek also noted that some of the 43 taxing entities in the County did not take their full allowable increase this year. Those include: the Port of Orcas, the San Juan and Orcas Cemetery Districts, and San Juan Island Emergency Medical Services. (Only 10.5% of the average property tax dollar is collected for the County Government’s operating fund.)
To offset the higher values, the tax levy rate was reduced by amounts ranging from 3% in Friday Harbor to 17.4% on Orcas Island. Because roughly one-third of the properties in the County are re-assessed each year, two thirds of the properties in the County actually pay less tax each year than the previous year. Residents of South San Juan Island – whose appraisals increased an average of 52% last year – will pay about $23 less in property taxes per $100,000 value. On Blakely Island property taxes will drop by $54 per $100,000 value.
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